Greysteel

Ari FiroozabadiCo-founder

NIMBLE AND POWERFUL

Greysteel helps its clients make decisions with respect to their commercial real-estate investments. The company “places great emphasis on fostering existing relationships, as they are the foundation of our thriving deal flow,” says Ari Firoozabadi, co-founder of Greysteel. “Whether those relationships are witah property owners, lenders or special servicers, we believe that managing these connections and stressing their importance internally is what has allowed us to grow so rapidly.” In addition, the company’s success has been fueled by a hiring process that is “rigorous and multi-faceted in nature,” says Firoozabadi.

Quick Tip: “True leadership is the ability to inspire others to pursue your vision, which in turn becomes their vision.”

In leading Greysteel, Firoozabadi has learned “that you must have empathy to have sustained success. This means empathy for your employees, clients and business partners.” Empathy makes it easier to build a harmonious team, and also makes it possible to internalize the needs of target clients, which means those needs will be better met, he explains. Firoozabadi’s ultimate career goal is to grow Greysteel into a globally recognized commercial real-estate firm. “There is a long road to travel between now and then, but the company has been nimble and powerful since its inception four years ago, and will strive to continue on an upward trend in the future,” he says. Over the next five years, Firoozabadi plans to double the number of Greysteel’s physical office locations.